Air mattress

ABSTRACT

An air mattress includes two covers each with a series of longitudinally extending fabric strips secured to the respective inner faces. Opposite corresponding strips are interconnected by partitions which may be continuous with spaced apertures or may be discontinuous.

States Philipp et al.

atent 1 Feb. 12, 1974 AlR MATTRESS ['75] Inventors: Werner Philipp,Bry-sur-Marne;

Andre Thomas, Briant-Amilly; Basile Fetissof, Pannes, all of France [73]Assignee: Etablissements Hutchinson I Compagnie Nationale, Loiret,

France 22 Filed: Mar. 15,1971

21 Appl.No.:124,363

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 18, 1970 France 7009644Sept. 22, 1970 France 7034285 [52] US. Cl. 5/349 [51] int. Cl...' A47c27/08 [58] Field of Search.... 5/348, 349, 350; 297/DIG. 8

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,887,692 5/1959 Gusman5/349 X 3,029,109 4/1962 Nail 297/461 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS787,42] 12/1957 Great Britain 5/349 Primary Examiner-Francis K. ZugelAssistant Examiner-Andrew M. Calvert Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Mason,Mason & Albright [5 7] ABSTRACT An air mattress includes two covers eachwith a series of longitudinally extending fabric strips secured to therespective inner faces. Opposite corresponding strips are interconnectedby partitions which may be continuous with spaced apertures or may bediscontinuous.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PmtcnIM Feb. 12, 1974 3,79%,975

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ATTORNEYS I AIR MATTRESS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of theInvention The invention relates to air mattresses.

2. Description of the Prior Art With air mattresses, and moreparticularly those used as underlays in beds, the aim is to give themain faces the form of wave crests and troughs. It is this quiltedeffect which preserves the typical character of the mattress.

To achieve this quilted effect, low partitions, preferably I-shaped'insection, are cemented to the interior of the two main faces of themattress. These partitions are spaced apart and arranged in rows runninglongitudinally of the mattress. As the mattress is inflated, thoseportions of the main faces which lie between the various portions curveoutwards, whereas the immediately adjacent parts of the said faces donot expand at all. The unexpanded parts thus form the wave troughs, thewave crests being formed by the parts blown up during inflation.

Points of overstress arise where the outer faces change from trough tocrest. The forces arising at this change are so high that they tend todetach the horizontal flangesof the partitions from the interior of themain faces, especially when the parts are only cemented together. Oncethisprocess of detachment is started, it continues until, within a veryshort space of time, the partitions become completely detached from thefaces of the mattress. The result eventually-is that the quilted effectis entirely lost and the overall shape of the mattress becomes whollyunacceptable.

An object of the invention is therefore to provide a mattress to ensureat all times a firm hold, however high the interior pressure, betweenthe members forming the connections between the mattress faces, by whichthe quilted effect is produced, so that the undulations are preservedeven when the mattress has been in use for a long time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there isprovided an air mattress comprising a first cover sheet, a second coversheet lying generally parallel to the first cover sheet, a first seriesof strips of material extending longitudinally of the mattress, spacedtransversely of the mattress and secured to the first cover, a secondseries of strips of material extending longitudinally of the mattress,spaced transversely of the mattress and secured to the second cover, andmeans defining partitions each extending between a respective pair ofsaid opposed strips of said first and second series, each said partitionbeing interrupted along its length by spaced elliptical apertures of asize such that on inflation of the mattress the configuration of bothcover sheets is affected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Two embodiments of a mattress inaccordance with the invention will now be described by way of example,with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan of a portion of one example of the mattress hereproposed;

FIG. 2 is a section along the line II- II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view to an enlarged scale, showing a portion oftwo strips and interposed partition sections;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan of another embodiment of the mattress;

FIG. 5 is a section along the line V--V in FIG. 4, and

FIG. 6 is an isometric view, to an enlarged scale, showing a portion oftwo strips and an interposed partition containing cutouts, seen in FIG.4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Two main faces 1 and 2 (firstand second cover sheets) of the mattress which may be made of rubberizedfabric and are joined all round to side walls 3 together provide agenerally flat formation when inflated. As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and2, the two faces 1 and 2 exhibit the typical quilted effect, with wavecrests and troughs alternating, so as to present purely externally theappearance of a typical air mattress. This quilted effect is obtained bymeans of strips of material (first and second series) 4 and 5, which runlongitudinally of the mattress and are joined to the two faces 1 and 2,for example by cementing. As can be seen from FIG. 1, these strips 4 and5 are spaced apart transversely across the mattress.

Partitions 6, of U-shaped cross-section, are joined, for example bysewing or cementing, to these strips 4 and 5. The partitions 6 arespaced apart along the length of the strips 4 and 5.

FIG. 2 shows how, when the mattress is inflated, the strips 4 anf 5 andhence also the mattress faces 1 and 2 curve outwards in the vicinity ofthe gaps, whereas the length between the strips 4 and 5 remainsunchanged in the vicinity of the partitions 6, since the forces arisingfrom inflation are absorbed by the partitions 6, which are inelastic.

The joining, on the one hand, of the partitions 6 to the strips 4 and 5and, on the other hand, of these strips to the faces 1 and 2, virtuallymakes it impossible for the partitions 6 to come apart from the strips 4and 5 at the points of high stress. The quilted effect will thus beretained at all times, even if the maximum permissi' ble pressure beexceeded.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 6, strips of material 7 and8 (corresponding to the strips 4 and 5 in the first embodiment), securedto the mattress faces 1 and 2. These strips 7 and 8, considered incrosssection, are continued as a partition 9, which thus forms with thema single homogeneous unit. The two strips 7 and 8 and the partition 9consequently combine to form a U-shaped cross section.

Apertures 10, are provided in the partition 9 at intervals along thelength of the partition. In the embodiment illustrated, these cutoutslie symmetrically about the longitudinal centre line X--X of thepartition 9 and are elliptical in shape; it is immaterial, however,whether they be round or oval.

A continuous additional strip 11 or 12 is joined to each partition 9 andis flush with the associated strip 7 or 8. These two strips 11 and 12serve to strengthen the joint between the mattress faces 1 and 2 and theinterposed connecting members. During inflation, as can be seen fromFIG. 6, those parts of the partition 9, strips 7/1 1 and 8/12 andmattress faces 1 and 2 which lie opposite the apertures 10 are expandedand produce wave crests at those points, the wave troughs being formedbetween the apertures 10.

A feature common to both embodiments is that the apertures or the gapslying between the partitions 6 are distributed checkerboard-fashion overthe mattress as a whole.

The embodiments herein proposed make it virtually impossible for theconnecting members that provide the quilted effect to be detached fromthe main faces (cover sheets) of the mattress, as has been clearlydemonstrated by experiment.

Moreover, the mattress embodying the invention can be produced simplyand cheaply.

We claim:

1. An air mattress comprising a first cover sheet,

a second cover sheet lying generally parallel to the first cover sheet,

a first series of strips of material extending longitudinally of themattress, spaced transversely of the mattress and secured to the firstcover,

a second series of strips of material extending longitudinally of themattress, spaced transversely of the mattress and secured to the secondcover, and means defining partitions each extending between a respectivepair of said opposed strips of said first and second series, each saidpartition being interrupted along its length by spaced ellipticalapertures of a size such that on inflation of the mattress theconfiguration of both cover sheets is affected.

2. A mattress according to claim 1, wherein the strips of both seriesare joined to the respective cover sheet by adhesive.

3. A mattress according to claim 1, wherein each partition is integralwith the respective opposed strips.

4. A mattress according to claim 3, comprising additional strips eachcontiguous with one of the strips of the first and second series,secured to a respective said cover sheet and to one of the partitions.

5. A mattress according to claim 1, wherein each aperture liessymmetrically about the longitudinal centre line of the partition.

6. A mattress according to claim 1, in which the apertures of thepartitions are distributed checkerboardfashion over the mattress as awhole.

1. An air mattress comprising a first cover sheet, a second cover sheetlying generally parallel to the first cover sheet, a first series ofstrips of material extending loNgitudinally of the mattress, spacedtransversely of the mattress and secured to the first cover, a secondseries of strips of material extending longitudinally of the mattress,spaced transversely of the mattress and secured to the second cover, andmeans defining partitions each extending between a respective pair ofsaid opposed strips of said first and second series, each said partitionbeing interrupted along its length by spaced elliptical apertures of asize such that on inflation of the mattress the configuration of bothcover sheets is affected.
 2. A mattress according to claim 1, whereinthe strips of both series are joined to the respective cover sheet byadhesive.
 3. A mattress according to claim 1, wherein each partition isintegral with the respective opposed strips.
 4. A mattress according toclaim 3, comprising additional strips each contiguous with one of thestrips of the first and second series, secured to a respective saidcover sheet and to one of the partitions.
 5. A mattress according toclaim 1, wherein each aperture lies symmetrically about the longitudinalcentre line of the partition.
 6. A mattress according to claim 1, inwhich the apertures of the partitions are distributedcheckerboard-fashion over the mattress as a whole.